The federal law governing special education is called the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. It is codified in Title 20, United States Code, starting at section 1400. It was initially passed in 1975. A number of major reauthorizations have taken place. The two most recent were in 1997 and in December 2004. The December 2004 changes took effect, for the most part, on July 1, 2005. The changes made in the 2004 Act are numerous and varied, but perhaps not revolutionary. Continue Reading »
FOR $1, a smart shopper can get one Butterfinger candy bar, three cans of cat food or five Christmas cards. Now, Connecticut’s tourism officials have to stretch a buck for statewide marketing campaigns — over an entire year.
After two years with a budget of $4.3 million a year, the state’s Commission on Culture and Tourism has to make do this fiscal year with just $1 allocated by the legislature in September for statewide promotions. The agency will get another lonely dollar next year. Continue Reading »
If your only experience visiting Connecticut has been driving on Rt. 84 from Danbury to Stockbridge, or along I95 from New York to Providence, then you haven’t experienced the true beauty of the Litchfield Hills in Northwestern Connecticut. Driving through the scenic and sometimes mountainous areas of the area, you are surrounded by lakes, rivers and beautiful farm country. You won’t see strip malls, or even grocery stores in most of the towns here. It is a quiet and peaceful region, where people come to get away from it all.
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Connecticut’s commissioner of education is appointed by the state board of education for a four-year term. The commissioner directs the department of education. Many local school districts have combined into supervisory unions, in which several towns share a superintendent. School attendance is free and compulsory between the ages of 7 and 16.
Dame schools—primary schools conducted by women in their own homes—existed in 1651 at New Haven. A state board of education was established in 1838 through the efforts of Henry Barnard, who later (in 1867) became the nation’s first commissioner of education. Continue Reading »